


Open Skies

by Ev Pocket (evpocket)



Category: Half-Life, Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, disjointed drabble collection, idk why but i just imagined this idea a few days ago and it's been a big comfort to me, implied one sided crush, so you all have to be subjected to it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23943382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evpocket/pseuds/Ev%20Pocket
Summary: A collection of drabbles and thoughts about Chell and Adrian, vaguely in the order in which they happen, but there is no real plot so don't worry.
Relationships: Adrian Shephard & Chell
Comments: 16
Kudos: 20





	Open Skies

His eyes flutter open and any restful peace he might have had is shattered as he remembers where he had just been and what had just happened to him. His gaze shoots forwards at the clear sky as he realizes he's lying on his back, propped up on something. Before he can get himself upright a concerned face pops into his vision, two bright eyes shadowed by dark eyebrows stare down at him, framed by messy brown hair. He realizes his head is resting in her lap.

"Did I die and go to heaven?" he manages.

Her hands come in to view and she signs back at him very bluntly:

[No. Michigan.]

Adrian laughs.

\----

"What's with the box?"

[Comfort item.]

Yeah, sure, like a teddy bear, or a piece of jewellery, or something like that. Not like a big metal box covered in scorch marks that weighs almost as much as yourself. But Adrian doesn't push the issue.

When they rest, Chell (Adrian likes her name. He wonders if it's short for something,) keeps the cube in between them, sat low against it like it's her cover in a gunfight. Adrian notices scars where bullets have grazed the her skin, and he watches her expression carefully when they chat. She never seems afraid, just cautious. He understands.

\----

Both of them know that something isn't right, but neither of them want to bring it up. They've been walking for days now and haven't seen a single sign of human life. Nobody around, and every building, car, and road they came across was decaying, hollow. 

[What year is it?] Chell asks.

Adrian explains that last he checked, it was 2003. And Chell answers that it's definitely not.

\---

Adrian nearly jumps out of his boots when he hears Chell's voice for the first time. She's humming something pretty while she lights the campfire. Later that night Adrian asks her if she knows a few songs he likes, and they sing them together, Adrian singing the main melody and Chell humming the harmony.

They do this every night from then on. Chell always squeezes her eyes shut, smiling and tapping her fingers to the rhythm. Adrian always watches her, the corners of his lips turned up just slightly.

\----

When Chell shoots a bird, or one of those nasty little four legged aliens, she fires without hesitation, never even taking the time to line up her shot. She never misses. Adrian asks her where she learned to shoot like that, and Chell says she'll tell him later.

When they've made camp she explains to him everything that happened to her at Aperture: the portal guns, the neurotoxin, all the way to the singing sentry turrets. Adrian watches her hands attentively, taking in every detail. So much of it seems unbelievable, but he believes every word of it.

After she was done, he tells her about the Black Mesa incident. Chell's mouth twitches like she's holding back a laugh at the name Black Mesa, but she shakes her head dismissively and lets him continue. He tells it like it just happened, totally serious and with trembling voice. At the end, Chell says that that g-man seems like a real piece of work and Adrian agrees.

"It's not all bad, though," he adds, smiling, and Chell smiles back at him.

\----

Chell stares up at the night sky as the fire dies out, the blue glow above her and orange at the ground makes it feel almost familiar, as if she had never left. She missed the open skies; she wanted nothing more than to stare up at the stars again. But now they made her feel vulnerable. She couldn't sleep right with so much open space around her.

She looks over to Adrian and sees him lying on his side, eyes closed gently and his chest rising and falling with even breaths. With as much stealth as she can manage she gets up and goes to the other side of the Companion Cube, and lies down between it and Adrian. Feeling a little more sheltered, she manages to sleep peacefully for the first time in a long time. And when Adrian wakes up and sees her at his side he feels peaceful too.


End file.
